Teresa Mallery pitches experience, stability in Kootenai County treasurer race

Teresa Mallery is making a case for continuity in an office Kootenai County residents usually notice only when tax bills arrive or a number is wrong. The longtime treasurer’s office employee will face Carlos Zamora in the May 19 Republican primary, and the winner will run unopposed in November after Steve Matheson decided not to seek a fourth term.

Mallery’s pitch is built on institutional memory. She has spent nearly 20 years in the Kootenai County Treasurer’s Office, starting as a clerk and moving up to technician and treasury specialist accountant. That background, she argues, matters in an office that does far more than process payments. Kootenai County says the treasurer must deposit and account for county money, invest idle funds, collect taxes on real and personal property, harvested timber and special assessments, and serve as public administrator in certain estates.

The timing gives the race extra weight. The second installment of property taxes is due by June 20, 2026, and county election officials have set the canvass for May 27. At the same time, the county’s scale keeps growing: as of Jan. 1, 2025, it had more than 97,500 assessable parcels, a combined full market value of $63.5 billion and net taxable value of $48.2 billion. In that environment, Mallery says stability and attention to detail are not luxuries.

She has also drawn a sharp line between the money that passes through the office every day and the smaller slice that comes from investing it. Mallery said investments account for about 4% of the county budget, while tax dollars make up between 44% and 47%. That makes the collection side, she argues, the office’s core responsibility and the place where accuracy matters most to taxpayers.

Her emphasis on calm administration comes after a turbulent stretch between county offices. In January 2024, Matheson filed a complaint with the Idaho State Tax Commission over delays, errors and omissions in the assessor’s office that interrupted levy-rate generation and contributed to a $53 million valuation error and delayed tax notices. Mallery has said the treasurer’s office should work more smoothly with the assessor’s office, and that the tension between departments has been exhausting for everyone involved.

Matheson, first elected Nov. 4, 2014, announced on Nov. 26, 2025 that he would not run again. He said he would stay through the end of his term in January 2027 to help ensure a smooth handoff, and Commissioner Bruce Mattare praised his investment management, saying the county would lose that skill when he leaves. Mallery, raised in Rathdrum and rooted in the office she hopes to lead, is asking voters to value the same thing: steady hands on public money, tax collections and the quiet work that keeps county government moving.